People often confuse the Spanish verb Convenir with the word conveniencia. Even though they can work on similar cases, many people consider that we generally use it for a negative purpose. This confusion is very common among Spanish students. But, the fact is you can use the verb convenir for positive things. These can be helping, advising, preventing, and accessing.
Convenir’s main use is to be a good or useful person or thing for another. In this article, you will learn how to use the word convenir, what it means, and understand its different meanings. This will help us in the future not to misunderstand what others say. Because in Spanish, the word convenience is quite strong and somewhat frowned upon.
What is convenir?
In Spanish, the word convenir is an intransitive verb. Its meaning is to be favorable or appropriate to the interests of a person or in general. But, depending on the context it may also mean to correspond or belong.
Here are some examples,
Los hermanos deben convenir juntos en cómo apoyar a sus padres. / Siblings should agree together on how to support their parents.
Ambas partes deben convenir en su separación para poder llegar a un acuerdo con el abogado. / Both parties must agree to their separation in order to reach an agreement with the lawyer.
Me va a convenir entonces ir para allá en la noche. / It will be convenient for me to go there at night.
As you can see, we can use the verb convenir when we mean that something is favorable to us. It helps us in several cases to take advantage for the benefit of ourselves or other people. Yet, sometimes we use this word when we want to profit incorrectly or illegitimately. Let’s see a few examples below to explain it better,
Vamos a hablar con el guardia del gobierno, eso nos puede convenir para tener más beneficios.
We are going to speak with the government guard, that may be convenient for us to have more benefits.
Si no le decimos nada a Julia, nos conviene porque entonces nos quedaría todo el dinero a nosotros.
If we don’t say anything to Julia, it suits us because then all the money would be left to us.
Me conviene más si se queda callado, después me puedo meter en un problema legal.
It suits me better if he stays quiet, then I can get into a legal problem.
How to use convenir
The word convenir has as a lexical component the prefix con. This indicates union, joint action, or aggregate. Also, it has the word venir, which is an infinitive verb. We usually conjugate this verb with the affected person as an indirect object. With this in mind, we can build a simple formula like this:
Pronoun + convenir + predicate
Here are some examples below,
No te conviene comprar el televisor por partes, pagarás casi el doble con los intereses. / It is not convenient for you to buy the television in parts, you will pay almost double with interest.
Me conviene más que trabajes desde casa a que trabajes en oficina. / It is better for me to work from home than to work in the office.
A Pedro le conviene que sus amigos lo acompañen a la fiesta. / It is convenient for Pedro that his friends accompany him to the party.
Using the gerund and participle of convenir is easy. These forms would be conviniendo y convenido, respectively. Let’s see some examples with these words.
Incluso el fondo de música es grande y muy bien conviniendo al ambiente animoso. / Even the music background is great and very well suited to the game ambiance.
Todos hemos convenido en que se realice la reunión. / We have all agreed to hold the meeting.
El Departamento llegó a un arreglo, conviniendo en pagar indemnizaciones y condonar deudas. / The Department settled the suit by agreeing to pay compensations and to write off debts.
Convenir vs conveniencia
In Spanish, some words may be similar like convenir and conveniencia, for example. But, we use them in different ways. When we talk about conveniencia, it is what we maintain for being useful. Thus, we generally use it when talking about hypocrisy, irrationality, or impropriety. Unlike convenir, which often we use to be advisable. Although we can also use convenir in the way we use conveniencia, it is in very few cases.
The word conveniencia is a noun, unlike convenir, which is an intransitive verb. Conveniencia can mean benefit, interest, or utility. Instead, convenir can be for good ideas, to set dates, to be advisable, or to be beneficial.
Let’s see some other examples.
Es conveniente que te pongas un sombrero para que no te quemes la cara con el sol.
It is convenient that you put on a hat so that you do not burn your face with the sun.
A Juan le conviene guardar reposo por unos días. / It is convenient for Juan to rest for a few days.
Nadie duda de la conveniencia de invertir más en las criptomonedas, ese es el futuro. / Nobody doubts the convenience of investing more in cryptocurrencies, that is the future.
Another way to use the noun conveniencia is for finances or property. For example,
Se desprendió de todas sus conveniencias para viajar por el mundo. / He gave up all his conveniences to travel the world.
In summary, Covnenir is a Spanish verb that can help us not only for negative but for positive purposes. This makes our idea of the word conveniencia change a bit since it is a bit harsh. In Spanish, convenir is still a word that we may not give so much daily use to. But that is undoubtedly important when we want to agree with someone or when we want to give them advice. With some practice and convenir in your vocabulary, you can even be mistaken for a native Spanish speaker.